Refer your Friends & Family for the Alaska Airlines Card and Make 2,500 Miles

Many of us already have the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card. Many probably don't know that it is possible to sign up for more than one card. Even if you already have one Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card open, you can apply for another card and you will get the bonus again.

Here is the link to set up the referral for an extra 2,500 Alaska Airlines miles.  If you don't already have the card here are a few details:

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature

• 30,000 bonus miles after you make at least $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days.
• Annual companion fare from $121 ($99, plus taxes and fees from $22) after you make $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening. There are no blackout dates.
• No foreign transaction fees, plus chip enabled for enhanced security when used at chip-enabled terminals.
• $75 annual fee not waived for the first year

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 So if you are planning on applying for a second Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card feel free to use my link and I will get a bonus. Or have one of your friends or family refer you and they will get the 2,500 referral bonus.

Earn Thousands of Miles and Get Wine for $6.99 Per Bottle

Most of us in the miles and points community hear about Vinesse Wine Club frequently. This internet based company offers tempting points bonuses for signing up for the wine club. The standard offer is to give you your first 6 bottles for $6.99 per bottle and wave the shipping charges. You get a varying amount of points depending on the program us sign up with. Most of the offers give you a certain amount of points for your first shipment, and more points after your second or third shipment. So your cost is $41.94 for 6 bottles of red, white, or mixed wine with free shipping.

These are the points programs that currently have lucrative offers:

United Mileage Plus - 2,000 miles after 1st shipment, 4,500 miles after your 3rd Shipment

Aadvantage American Airlines - 2,000 miles after 1st shipment, 3,000 miles after your 2nd shipment

Alaska Airlines - 2,250 miles after 1st shipment

Delta Airlines - 1,500 points after 1st shipment

Spirit Airlines - 5,000 points after 1st shipment

Hilton Honors - 3,333 points after 1st shipment

Club Carlson - 5,000 points after 1st shipment, 7,500 points after your 2nd shipment

Priority Club - 4,000 point after 1st shipment, 5,000 points after your 2nd shipment

I live in a state where wine is quite expensive. I cannot buy even the cheapest wine on the bottom shelf for $6.99 a bottle. So for me get a variety of wines for $6.99 a bottle is a great deal on its own. As for the overall quality of the wines included in the initial shipment, my opinion is that it is hit or miss. Some wines are decent and quite drinkable, others aren't so good. I frequently bring these along for various parties or as simple gifts.

In my opinion the wine is not good enough to wait for the 2nd shipment at full price plus shipping. The second shipment comes in at around $108+$20 shipping = $128 for 6 bottles or over $21 per bottle. I can find some pretty nice wines on my own for $21 a bottle. Even with the added points for the second shipment given with several of the offers it is not worth it for me.

I am currently in the process of testing this, but I think it is possible to get multiple offers from Vinesse. I have been succesful in signing up for a Club Carlson and an Alaska Airlines in less than one week. I received 2 boxes of wine and my credit cards were charged $41.94 each for 6 bottles of wine.

If you want to sign up for multiple offers you will need to use a different email address. If you don't have several email address and if you have a gMail account you can simply add a period in your email address and it will still arrive at the same inbox. So if your email address is johndoe@gmail.com you can use john.doe@gmail.com.

Make sure to enter different rewards account numbers. I have not confirmed this yet. It may be possible to get multiple for example Delta Airlines bonuses for the same frequent flier number.

For now use different rewards accounts. You can use your own account the first time, perhaps a spouse's account the second time. I have multiple Club Carlson numbers for personal and business use so I could sign up for two Club Carlson bonuses.

I also use a slightly different name for each account. My first name is Timothy so I use Timothy on the first signup and Tim on the second signup.

There is a lot of information out there about how Vinesse is pretty shiesty when it comes to quickly sending out a second shipment or making it difficult to cancel your membership. Here are some tips to getting around that.

As soon as you receive your first shipment, log into your account using your email and the temporary password provided to you in an email. On the right side up the page you will see a link that allows you to delay your next shipment. You can delay shipment for at least two months out. This gives you time to make sure points from the first shipment post to your account. Once the points have posted call and cancel your account.

Let me know your experiences with Vinesse. Post any questions in the comments.

Best Credit Card for Alaskans

Living in Alaska we have limited options for which airlines service our state or our city. Many blogs advertise the Southwest Credit Card or the Virgin America credit card to their readers. These are great credit cards... if you live in an area serviced by one of these airlines. So what are the best credit cards for people living in Alaska?

I think it is probably just a gimme, but most Alaskan educated on the subject would suggest that the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card is the top credit card for Alaskans. Alaskan Airlines has the largest presence in Alaska with flights as far north as Barrow and as far south as Ketchikan This credit card offers:

• 30,000 Alaska Airlines miles after first purchase
• valuable $99 companion fare
• 3x miles on Alaska Airlines purchases
• $75 fee is NOT waived for the first year

Most of the offers publicly available are for only 25,000 miles so this offer is 5,000 miles greater. Yes, the $75 fee is not waived for the first year, but 25,000 miles is sufficient for a round trip domestic ticket. This is well worth the $75 fee.

The $99 companion ticket is also quite valuable. It works like this:

• Works only flights on  Alaska Airlines flights only
• Purchase one ticket and received the second for $99 plus tax

The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card was my first credit card and I have kept it ever since. Some people find that they are not able to use the $99 companion ticket before the 1 year expiration date (you get a new $99 companion ticket every year you have the credit card).  I see that many people sell their Alaska Airlines companion ticket on craigslist. The going rate is around $175. A reminder that this practice is not completely legitimate from the perspective of Alaska Airlines, but many people do it.

So if you do not have this credit card already, you should definitely consider signing up!